Ambassador of Georgia Levan Mikeladze Seeking Stability in Turbulent World by Brian J. Karem Georgia is always on his mind, but a good Washington Wizards NBA basketball game isnít far behind. ìIím a big Michael Jordan fan,î says 45-year-old Levan Mikeladze, the newest ambassador to the former Soviet Georgia. Mikeladze is the embodiment of Georgia: admiring of things Western but uniquely his own. The father of two teenage girls, Mikeladze is happy that they have become ìWesternized,î but not so much by living in Chevy Chase, Md., that they forget their culture. He struggles daily to straddle that line in not only his dealings with his daughters, but with his young country as well. ìGeorgia is pro-Western and eager to participate in NATO. At the same time, we know we havenít matched our expectations, but weíve made progress. We want to build a democratic society with real Western values, but Georgiaís stability is very fragile. I have to recognize it.î Chechen rebels who use the country as a travel corridor coupled with the thousands of refugees who have settled in Georgia currently threaten the nationís stability. Its northern neighbor, Russia, also t hreatens stability. Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Georgia of harboring Chechen rebels in its borders, a claim flatly denied by Georgian President Edward Shevardnadze. But, following the siege of a Moscow theater, which left nearly 50 hostage-takers and more than 120 captives dead, Putin has put even more pressure on Georgia. ìIt was erroneously reported that the hostage-takers let dozens of Georgians go, which would tend to make people believe they were sympathetic to Georgia. In truth, only one Georgian child was released along with dozens of other children,î Mikeladze notes. It is a deeper wound that stems from the breakup of the Soviet empire at the end of the last century, which Mikeladze says exacerbates the fragility of the Georgian democracy. ìI donít want to be over critical of Russia,î he says. ìWe are bound by many things, including culture and history, and there is a genuine love in my country for Russia, but we understand that the Russian government may dislike us to some extent.î President Shevardnadzeís personality is one part of that equation. His former status in the Soviet Union and his perceived contribution to the breakup of the empire fosters some enmity, but that is also compounded by Georgiaís drift to the West and the request by Georgia for Russia to close its military bases currently on Georgian soil. ìIt is the right of any state to request such a move,î Mikeladze points out. Meanwhile, to deal with the refugees and potential rebels, some 7,000 of whom have settled in the small Pankisi Gorge region of Georgia (an area of approximately nine square miles), the government recently brought in some 150 U.S. advisers to train the fledgling Georgian military. ìThey have not been involved in daily activities,î Mikeladze says, ìbut they have helped us train our people. Most of the refugees that were in the Pankisi Gorge were mainly women, children, the elderly and some wounded. There were very few criminals and a few dozen Arabs as well. But we now have the area under control, in part due to the training help we received.î As of now, one battalion has been trained, and Mikeladze says eventually the United Statesówith the goal of ìhelping to stabilize the regionîówill train some 2,000 soldiers. ìWithout seeming pretentious, Georgia is very integral to the national interest of the United States. We sit at the crossroads of east-west travel, and we are a gateway country.î Although Russian President Putin has said that the Pankisi Gorge may be a gateway for terrorists, including al Qaeda operatives, Mikeladze sees Georgia as a gateway to opportunity and as a model that other emerging countries can follow. He admits the sentiment is perhaps a bit optimistic, but this affable ambassador, who is a Fulbright scholar, is also an admitted dreameróìI donít get a chance to do it much any more, but my ideal day is spent daydreamingîóand a lover of Western music. He loves the music of the Beatles, especially ìBack in the USSR,î and he loves Western movies, including the Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe comedy ìSome Like it Hot,î and he is, above all, an eternal optimist. One of the growing areas of the Georgian economy is tourism, and Mikeladze optimistically hopes to court more Western travelers in the future. ìWe have beaches and mountains and ski resorts. We have a great climate and good food,î he says. ìIn the future, we hope we can stabilize the region so we can show off our unique culture.î As of now, he says, the country attracts 8 to 9 million tourists a year, mostly from the former Soviet Union, but he hopes more Western travelers discover the secrets of Georgia. Although the world is mired in the mud of terrorism, and his own country has seen the direct results of terror, Mikeladze sees reason to hope. ìI try to be a realist,î he says. ìThere is much more integration and exchange of information today, and cultures are solving their problems with joint efforts. The world as a whole is better now than when I was growing up. It is less violent, and there is more talk of human rights. Terror was always there, but it has no place to hide today.î Mikeladze says his government is bound to help fight terrorism around the world and improve its relations with its neighbor Russia as well as with its ally, the United States. ìThere is an old saying that it is extremely difficult to sleep in the bed with an elephant, even when the elephant loves you, because itís an elephant. That is the way with the Russian bear.î He smiles after he says this, adding that he loves Russia but admits that as a small boy, he dreamed of Georgian independence. Now this dreamer and academic with two daughters who have one foot in the Western world and one firmly planted at home in Georgia, dreams of a time when there will be a firm and tangible peace in the region. ìWe have conducted a major campaign in the Pankisi region,î he says. ìIt is solved. We have arrested some people, and now the area is fully under the control of the Georgian government. We now want to try to invite more investment from American firms in our country and develop our infrastructure.î When all is said and done, when Mikeladze is able to retire and go back home to sit on a hill in Georgia and dream, he wants to be remembered as having made real progress in strengthening his country. ìI hope that is my memory. I hope for a strong and independent Georgia with strong ties to the West and a good friendship with Russia. The U.S. is doing a lot in Georgia, and we are very much defined and our future is determined by the help and support of the U.S. But we in Georgia must also choose our fate.î Brian J. Karem is a freelance writer in Derwood, Md.